Hansel and Gretel,
a brilliantly cerebral pair,
The boy with muscles like metal,
The girl with louse filled, dirty hair,
trekked the treacherous Appalachians
to escape their rapacious mother.

A bitter fable of sorts,
a tale filled with despair.
Where Gretel gets slaughtered,
and Hansel gets entangled in a violent affair.
There is no pleasant finale
Or a nice bid adieu.
But, a tragic trip down death valley.
A petrifying twist to the epic you thought you knew. 

One gloomy daybreak,
the scabs on Hansel’s feet festered,
And the bruises on Gretel ached.
A frosty breeze entered.
Their three-walled shelter,
filled with odor of rotten steak.
They prayed for god as their helper,
but, they knew their mother was awake.

Her footsteps sounded like boulders,
r
  o        l        n
         l       i       g
      
up and down the asymmetrical hills.
Hansel took his sister’s frail decrepit hands,
and shut his eyes till,
he felt Gretel tug incessantly for them to run,

They dash through the lush woods but, a gun
Opened fire into the suddenly,
Cerulean skies.
Followed by a howling of sorts then a series of angry groans.
Mama was coming for them.
Gretel started to align stones.
Just in case, if they needed to venture their way home.

Gretel was envisioning a brick house with windows,
Luminous windows,
Grand windows that let the scarce sunlight peer into the home.
with an ample fireplace,
where the warmth pervades
and blankets are silken quilts.
Where the fabric cascades
down to your toes like silt.

As they trudged through the thickset mud,
Hansel cringed from the pain.
His scabs were breaking and overflown with blood.
The cold breeze was arid.
Turning Gretel’s dainty fingers blue.
Until a flicker of light came from a house.
The home resembling Gretel’s flawless delusion.

They followed their beacon of light to seek asylum,
A brick house with marvelous windows.
A red door with a knob of gold,
An ambrosial odor races to their nostrils,
A quiet sigh leaves Gretel.
A silhouette, high in stature with slender limbs,
Crept around the perimeter slowly examining the garden,
Until the woman spotted them.

"You, over there!" She hooted.
Sharp pointy shapes made up her profile,
and her razor-sharp canine teeth were imparingly frightening.
Nonetheless, she approached them with kindness.
"We didn't mean to bother you. We'll just leave now." Gretel muttered meekly,
as the witch took her twiggy finger and beckoned them towards her.
Hansel approached the house with precaution.

As they entered, they saw a dark rectangular room
With a broken chandelier oscillating whilst attached to the ceiling.
The door slammed violently behind them.
And suddenly, the room felt frigid.
An impenetrable silence.